Snow, C.P.

Snow, C.P.

▪ British scientist and writer
in full  Charles Percy Snow, Baron Snow Of The City Of Leicester  
born Oct. 15, 1905, Leicester, Leicestershire, Eng.
died July 1, 1980, London
 British novelist, scientist, and government administrator.

      Snow was graduated from Leicester University and earned a doctorate in physics at the University of Cambridge, where, at the age of 25, he became a fellow of Christ's College. After working at Cambridge in molecular physics for some 20 years, he became a university administrator, and, with the outbreak of World War II, he became a scientific adviser to the British government. He was knighted in 1957 and made a life peer in 1964. In 1950 he married the British novelist Pamela Hansford Johnson.

      In the 1930s Snow began the 11-volume novel sequence collectively called “Strangers and Brothers” (published 1940–70), about the academic, public, and private life of an Englishman named Lewis Eliot. The novels are a quiet (though not dull) and meticulous analysis of bureaucratic man and the corrupting influence of power. Several of Snow's novels were adapted for the stage. Later novels include In Their Wisdom (1974) and Coat of Varnish (1979).

      As both a literary man and a scientist, Snow was particularly well equipped to write a book about science and literature; The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution (1959) and its sequel, Second Look (1964), constitute Snow's most widely known—and widely attacked—position. He argued that practitioners of either of the two disciplines know little, if anything, about the other and that communication is difficult, if not impossible, between them. Snow thus called attention to a breach in two of the major branches of Western culture, a breach long noted but rarely enunciated by a figure respected in both fields. Snow acknowledged the emergence of a third “culture” as well, the social sciences and arts concerned with “how human beings are living or have lived.” Many of Snow's writings on science and culture are found in Public Affairs (1971). Trollope: His Life and Art (1975) exemplifies Snow's powers in literary criticism, as does The Realists: Eight Portraits (1979).

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  • Snow — Snow, n. [OE. snow, snaw, AS. sn[=a]w; akin to D. sneeuw, OS. & OHG. sn[=e]o, G. schnee, Icel. sn[ae]r, snj[=o]r, snaj[=a]r, Sw. sn[ o], Dan. snee, Goth. snaiws, Lith. sn[ e]gas, Russ. snieg , Ir. & Gael. sneachd, W. nyf, L. nix, nivis, Gr. acc.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Snow — bezeichnet: das englische Wort für Schnee Snow (Fluss), einen Fluss Snow (Codec), einen Wavelet basierenden Videocodec Snow (Musiker), einen kanadischen Rapper Snow (Album), das sechste Studioalbum von Spock s Beard Snow ist der Familienname… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • SNOW (E. P.) — SNOW EDGAR PARKS (1905 1972) Durant plus d’une décennie, Edgar Snow fut sans doute le plus aventureux et le plus entreprenant des journalistes en Chine et il est indiscutablement le premier à avoir témoigné de l’importance d’une révolution en… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Snow — (en inglés nieve), puede referirse a: John Snow (1813–1858), médico inglés; John W. Snow (n. 1939), 73º secretario del Tesoro de los Estados Unidos; La Isla Snow en la Antártida; El sobrenombre de Darrin O Brien (n. 1969), músico de reggae… …   Wikipedia Español

  • snow — snow; snow·do·nian; snow·i·ly; snow·i·ness; snow·less; snow·man; snow·mo·bil·ing; snow·mo·bile; snow·mo·bil·er; snow·mo·bil·ist; …   English syllables

  • snow — [snō] n. [ME < OE snaw, akin to Ger schnee < IE base * sneigwh , to snow, * snoigwhos, snow > OIr snechta, Russ snieg, L nix (gen. nivis)] 1. particles of water vapor which when frozen in the upper air fall to earth as soft, white,… …   English World dictionary

  • snow´i|ly — snow|y «SNOH ee», adjective, snow|i|er, snow|i|est. 1. having snow: »a snowy day. 2. covered with snow: »a snowy roof …   Useful english dictionary

  • snow|y — «SNOH ee», adjective, snow|i|er, snow|i|est. 1. having snow: »a snowy day. 2. covered with snow: »a snowy roof …   Useful english dictionary

  • SNOW — 1.0 and 2.0 are two word based synchronous stream ciphers developed by Thomas Johansson and Patrik Ekdahl at Lund University. SNOW 1.0, originally simply SNOW, was submitted to the NESSIE project. The cipher has no known intellectual property or… …   Wikipedia

  • Snow — Snow, v. t. To scatter like snow; to cover with, or as with, snow. Donne. Shak. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • snow — ► NOUN 1) atmospheric water vapour frozen into ice crystals and falling in light white flakes or lying on the ground as a white layer. 2) (snows) falls of snow. 3) a mass of flickering white spots on a television or radar screen, caused by… …   English terms dictionary

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